Recreational vehicles, including golf cars, are typically supplied with top coverings or canopies and windshield assemblies to protect occupants from foul weather, wind and sun. Most conventional recreational vehicles, such as golf cars, include a frame support system attached to the car body, consisting of front and rear vertical frame posts which support the top covering and windshield assembly. The windshield assembly is typically attached to the posts on the vehicle front and protects the occupants from wind and weather while moving.
Recreational vehicles, especially golf cars, have been equipped with windshield assemblies of various types including single and multi-panel windshields, as well as windshields which open, are detachable or are fixedly connected to the vehicle.
Golf cars with single-panel windshield assemblies are usually equipped with a windshield panel permanently affixed directly to the frame of the vehicle by fasteners such as screws or bolts. Such permanently attached windshields experience torque and other forces and stresses from direct contact with the frame which are transferred from the golf car frame to the windshield during use. Other permanently affixed windshields have used fasteners such as screws or bolts which also cause cracking and tearing. Some of these windshield assemblies require holes be drilled in the windshield panel, weakening the panel and contributing to tearing and cracking of the windshield. Further, these windshields create undesirable noises, such as rattles and squeaks during use.
Golf cars with windshield assemblies which open have been made in various forms. Many of these windshield assemblies consist of a panel movable between a closed or raised position and an open or lowered position. In the closed position, the windshield panel is connected to the frame support system blocking entry of wind or rain into the cab portion of the golf car. In the open position, the panel is lowered away from the golf car frame creating an opening. Some of these cars utilize multi-paneled windshield assemblies having an upper windshield panel and lower windshield panel. Typically, the lower panel has been permanently attached to the golf car frame support posts. The upper panel is the movable panel and is able to be moved from the closed position to the open position.
Some of these multi-panel windshields have been manufactured in two panels connected to a recreational or utility vehicle by various methods. One type of connection for multi-paneled windshield assemblies is by a pawl latch device. In this connection, a hole is drilled in the windshield and a clip is inserted into the hole in the windshield. The clip is turned and folded to hold the windshield in place on the frame. Such connections permit vibrational stresses, torques and other forces to be transferred to the windshield which is in direct contact with the vehicle frame, causing cracking or tearing of the windshield. This type of damage requires frequent and costly replacement of the windshield. Noises such as squeaking and rattling of the windshield during movement of the car are also significant problems in these previous designs.
Other multi-paneled and single panel windshield assemblies have utilized snap-on fasteners or clips to join the windshield assembly to the frame. One type of these snap-on clips is an elongated extruded PVC clip having a rigid, C-shaped gap. Examples of this connector are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,503 to Samuelson. These snap-on PVC-clips are utilized by snapping the clip over the edge of the windshield and the golf car frame together in the C-shaped channel to hold the windshield in place.
These snap-on fittings also hold the windshield in direct contact with the golf car frame system causing the windshield to tear and crack during movement of the car. These snap-on devices also easily fall off during use allowing the windshield to fall off of the car. Over time, the material of these PVC snap-on clips fails or cracks, lessening the gripping and holding ability of these clips. Further, squeaking, rattling and other noises are also experienced with these clips.
Other windshield assemblies have been made utilizing retainers which are permanently attached to the car frame. One type of windshield assembly uses a retainer screwed to the car frame which grips the windshield by a clip. An example of this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,380 to Heavner. The car end user must drill a hole in the frame of the golf car to attach this retainer. Such retainers loosely hold the windshield, allowing the windshield to slip and fall out of the retainer during use or flop open during movement of the golf car. These retainers also allow the windshield to move within the retainer causing squeaking and other undesirable noises.
Other windshield assemblies with retainers attached to the frame have used PVC snap-on clips in combination with other retainers to permanently affix the windshield assembly to the car and releasably grasp the windshield. They experience similar problems as the types which screw to the car frame. One such system is recited by U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,379 to Heavner.
Additionally, many of these windshield assemblies require tools for attachment by the end user. For instance, some of these windshields require the end user to drill holes or attach fasteners to the car frame or windshield with screw drivers or wrenches.
There is therefore a need for recreational or utility vehicle having a windshield assembly utilizing a holding device that easily, releasably attaches to frame support posts of a recreational or utility vehicle while remaining secured to the windshield panel of a windshield assembly. There is a further need for a windshield assembly with a holding device that effectively secures the windshield assembly to the vehicle frame when the windshield assembly is in the raised or closed position while allowing the upper panel of the windshield assembly to release the frame in lowering the assembly to the open or lowered position. There is a further need for a windshield assembly for a vehicle having a holding device that secures the windshield panel within the holding device while requiring no tools for attachment and which eliminates undesirable noises.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a recreational vehicle, such as a golf car, having a windshield assembly utilizing a holding device which releasably secures a windshield to a recreational vehicle. It is a further object to provide a windshield assembly which can be releasably attached to a recreational vehicle frame such as a golf car frame utilizing an improved holding device. It is still further an object of the present invention to provide a holding device which releasably attaches a windshield to a recreational vehicle frame.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a holding device which reduces or eliminates forces or stresses transferred from the recreational vehicle frame to a windshield panel during use which cause tearing, cracking and breakage of recreational vehicle windshield assemblies.
It is a further object to provide a holding device for windshield assemblies which reduces or eliminates undesirable noises such as squeaking and rattling from windshield assemblies by providing cushioning between the windshield and the recreational vehicle frame.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a windshield assembly utilizing an improved holding device which can be easily releasably attached to a recreational vehicle without requiring any tools.